1. Field of the Invention
An hydraulically-operable locking differential is disclosed including passage means contained within the casing adjustment ring for supplying pressure fluid to operate friction pack means to lock one side gear to the differential casing.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the patented prior art to include hydraulically operable friction pack means for connecting a side gear to the casing of a limited slip differential, as evidenced by the patents to Seitz et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,399, Mueller No. 4,263,824, Ozaki et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,463, Hirota U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,876 and Kobayashi U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,696, among others. In general, these systems are rather complex and expensive, and are not suitable for retrofit installation within a user's existing differential axle housing. One problem that occurs in such differentials is how to actuate hydraulically the friction pack means contained within the rotatably driven differential casing. The present invention was developed to provide an improved differential that avoids the above and other drawbacks of the known differential arrangements.